NOSTALGIA...........RATU MERAK..........

When I read about how Rasp describe me when we met last wkend, "I nampak this tall beautiful lady cat walking ke arah w'uols with family in tow.... it's Moralle!!! " sowie Rasp I cilok this phrase from your entry...... hehehe.

Teringin pulak nak story mory about my experienced when I joined a bridal beauty contest long-long time ago. Me yg macam tomboy has to learn how to do cat walking seyyyyyyy..............

I entered this beauty pageant called "RATU MERAK KAYANGAN". Main sponsor for the pageant is Putri Mas Oriflame Bridal and Beauty Centre.

It was back in 1990 with 400 young and beautiful participants who had registered for the contest. Out of the 400, me and another 4 were married, the rest were all single ladies from Pra-U, Polytechnic and University. I was already married for 1 yr when I joined this contest.

We have to go through 5 heats and only 20 were selected for the Final round. I'm so happy I was selected out of the 20. Actually tak sangka jugak, maklumlah, 1st of all I am already married and I dont hv the experience at all in modelling, I submitted the application form pun suka-suka je.

For all the 20 participants, we have to get our own mak andam and costumes for the contest. It will be traditional and evening gown. When I knew that I hv been selected, I pun calling-calling my mak andam and ask if she is interested to sponsor me for the event. Tak sangka jugak she wants it, lagipun it will be good for her jugak, free advertisement for her to let other people c her works in tatarias and all her collections.

The final had been set in Jan 1990, so those yg selected had to go through belajar cat walking, sitting posture, standing posture, and all types of pose which models has to know. I had a very hard time, I never jalan pose cantik-cantik gitu, than suddenly kenek jalan lady like, very kaku and very difficult for me. 1 month of training, thats all it takes to make me very the lady like, I can walk more lady like, more softer, posed sakan here and there, ooooooooooo tak sangka jugak, hehehe.

The venue for the final is at Panggung Kallang, I think now panggung Kallang dah tak de dah, tak tau dah jadi ape. I was excited and at the same time was very scared to. Hubby pun at that time very supportive, send me to the training centre every week, and even brought some of his frens during the final to support me.

The final day finally arrived, we have to posed 2 costumes, traditional and the evening gown. Both my costumes are new ones, my mak andam really make the effort to sew two new costumes just for me to peragakan for her on the final. On the final day, my hubby was there to support me with his frens, front sit lagi he got.

Before the show start, me at back stage dah start menggigil, maklumlah 1st time on stage with hundreds of people who will be watching u to catwalk with your costumes. I was given tag no. 18, nasib baik jugak, not the 1st one to go.

Alhamdulillah 1st show with the traditional costumes goes very smoothly, menggigil pun hilang, tepukan gemuruh yg I dapat, very soka. But nasib tak menyebelahi I lah, when I peragakan evening gown I did a big mistake, I salah jalan kat atas stage. Ooooooooo malu lah jugak, bayangkan orang yg di bawah sedang memperhatikan u yg salah jalan kat atas stage, u know what, I sempat jeling at my hubby, he was laughing at me at that time. Geram jugak, but ape nak buat, kesalahan I sendiri, so I pun act blur and continue walking.

Bukan rezki I, I tak dapat menyandang the Title "RATU MERAK KAYANGAN", not even the 2nd, 3rd or 4th place.

Its very memorable for me in my life, tak sangka dapat masuk beauty contest. Ya lah, traditional contest like this tak de pendedahan body, sebaliknye menampilkan para peserta dengan pakaian Melayu yg sopan. Experienced yg tak terkata, and I still kept the magazine SERI which they had published in Mei/Jun 1990.

I managed to selongkar all the zaman gemilang photos of me during the pageant. Hubby and Arin help me yesterday night to look for it.